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As we all know, Free Comic Book Day was March 3rd, 2008. I only show up at the LCS on Wednesdays so I didn’t actually get any books in time for last week’s TPL but they ahd many titles still there, which you can check out in the FCBD section. Anyway, this week saw 23 titles end up in my box, 14 Marvels and 9 DCs (no, I didn’t count the FCBD books). The new Overstreet also debuted so I had to pick that one up as well. Luckily graduate class is almost over (just one more test, which I probably won’t study for) but I have a shitload of papers to grade for school which may cause this to be slightly delayed (fingers crossed that it isn’t). Anyway, Saturday will be grading all day and hopefull I can knock most of the titles out before Mother’s Day. I can foresee Marvel having a monster week (SI 2, Avengers/Invaders 1, and 2 new Iron Man titles) and DC may struggle a bit but I’ll have to read to find out.
Spoilers Ahead
The Main Event:
-Secret Invasion #2- The New Avengers and Mighty Avengers face their counterparts who just landed last issue. There is a massive battle scene and all the casualties on the returning side seem to be Skrulls. Bobbi (Mockingbird) lives and Ronin firmly believes she is real. Iron Man gets dropped off at the old Mutates lab to make a new suit of armor for himself as Ms. Marvel flies back to the States to see what is going on. And what is going on is a Skrull ship has landed with Super-Skrulls all around ready to invade (as the Young Avengers look on). Who doesn’t like a good super hero fight? This had everything in the fight, too, even a T-Rex plowing through. We saw a Skrull Spider-Man and Hawkeye for certain though Bobbi believes their Cap is the real one. Very good issue and so far it is 2 for 2 for Secret Invasion and 1/1 for Marvel.
-Avengers/Invaders #1- This was definitely a highly anticipated issue, as the duo of Ross and Krueger have been churning out some great maxi-series lately. This issue gives us a very nice background on the Invaders, as seen through the eyes of Bucky Barnes. They are fighting in 1943 when a green mist surrounds them and transports them to our time where Spider-Man is battling the Thunderbolts. The Invaders think they are still in the war (thanks to Swordsman’s German accent) and defeat handily the Thunderbolts before going off in search of answers. Spidey goes to find the New Avengers as Iron Man looks on in his office. This was a very good intro issue, getting us familiar with the Invaders (for those who don’t know who they are) and getting them plopped into the middle of Manhattan. They don’t know they are out of place yert so that should lead to some interesting things in future episodes. 2/2.
Marvel
-Amazing Spider-Man #558- Peter has a crazy dream about Freak and what do you know, Freak shows up at the end of the issue! Spider-Man and Connors are able to stop him and the threat is seemingly over. Of course, Menace in this same issue has just threatened the new mayoral candidate, whose daughter is dating Harry Osborne and when Peter talks to Harry he is oddly unaffected. We see the reason why, his company has taken Freak to their labs. Uh-oh. This was a filler issue as Kitson saved the title from delays and it was actually a decent story that moved the plot ahead and kept Spidey in trouble with Freak. They moved Freak to the Osborne place, making Harry seem a bit more evil than we expected. All in all it was a good issue. 3/3.
-American Dream #1- American Dream is the MC2 version of Captain America. Basically AD has to face the fact that she has given up her real life, her secret identity, to be American Dream and is having some regrets about it. She goes to an army base where a huge monster attacks. She tries to stop it but falls in the process. She is also being followed by some villains as well. This was a good enough opening issue and I don’t have a problem with it. 4/4.
-Darktower: The Long Road Home #3- Darktower continues bringing the awesome. We see Roland inside Maerlyn’s grapefruit and talking to a crow. The crow shows him a future version of himself that is without friends. Alain follows Roland into the grapefruit and the crow morphs into Marten. Alain ends up back in the real world where a wolf attacks the guys and Roland, still in his trance, saves the guys by killing the wolf. He collapses back into his trance. Unfortutately, more wolves descend upon the guys as Roland is still in his trance. The back-up story from Robin Furth continues how Arthur Eld was saved by Sir Johns and Sir Bertrand. Another fantastic issue, and I really like where this is heading, with Roland being sent into the supernatural while his friends are in trouble in the natural. 5/5.
-Foolkiller #5- Foolkiller and Nate McBride know that the only way to stop Sickle Moon is to stop The Cheese, so stopping the money source will stop the killing. So Foolkiller goes after the Cheese, kills him, sends his body parts all over the world, as Nate tries to hold up Sickle. He does, and when Sickle finds out that Cheese is dead, he stops his hit on Nate’s daughter, but kills Nate instead. Foolkiller brings Nate’s body to the hospital and tells them that he is now a heart donor for his daughter. I didn’t expect Nate to die, but it made sense. This was a brutal mini-series but was a great 5 issues that didn’t use violence as a selling point but as a connection to the real world. 6/6.
-Invincible Iron Man #1- In Tanzania a group of three boys explode in a suicide bombing attack. We then go to Iron Man as he helps fix an astronaut ship and discusses his fears as Iron Man, that someone would steal his technology, update it, and then use it for evil. Of course, he finds out this happens when he finds the image on a girl’s cell phone of the bombers. This is tied into young Ezekial Stane, who orchestratred this attack, and kills members of a tobacco boardroom. Stark doesn’t know of Stane’s involvement left. This was a very good first issue introducing us to a new villain (for those who didn’t read the Order) and and exciting new Iron Man title. 7/7.
-Iron Man: Viva Las Vegas #1- Jon Favreau follows up his awesome movie with this mini-series. Tony takes a vacation to Las Vegas where a new hotel is opening. They find old armor that they use as their statue in front of their theater. Unfortunately, the armor starts calling a horde of reptiles and it may be tied into Fin Fang Foom? Iron Man vs. Fin Fang Foom? Favreau writing Iron Man? Adi Granov on art? Can you ask for anything more? 8/8.
-Logan #3- Logan returns to the site of the atom bomb and fights the old army lt. he knew. The guy rips his heart out, Logan doesn’t die, he remembers his old love, then kills the army guy. It was an interesting mini-series, but ultimately the last issue was a bit of a dissappointment. It just sort of ended. 8/9.
-Mighty Avengers #13- Nick Fury calls upon the daughter of Avalanche to recruit sons and daughters of famous heroes and villains since they haven’t been charted yet by the Skrulls and only Fury knows of their powers. They recruit a whole bunch of them, including Ares son (Phobos), the daughter of the Griffin, the son of the original Ghost Rider (Phantom Rider), a mystic of some sort and a guy named Jerry Sledge. Layla Miller doesn’t join but warns of some impending threats. Fury ends with asking them if they know what a Skrull is. Of course, there are no Mighty Avengers in this issue at all, and really should have been a Secret Invasion tie-in instead of a Mighty Avengers title. This was a good issue, though. 9/10.
-Moon Knight #18- Iron Man shows up and demands that Moon Knight stop his activities for now. Carson Knowles kills some more people and finds a huge stock of weapons, including nano technology that he can use to enslave people who have the bots implanted in them. Knowles encounters Spector and beats him down. Spector whips out the suit at the end as Knowles is ready to use the implants. I guess after about 18 issues it is time for Moon Knight to fight someone. This was still a readable issue. 10/11.
-Nova #13- Nova encounters a planet where a strange shadow being (almost like Shadow King) is taking over hosts. Nova stops that threat but find a much larger threat, that Galactus is about to eat the planet. Nova helps board all the inhabitants but the planes won’t launch! They need more time which they don’t have. Nova goes to talk to Galactus about it but Nova is attacked by the Silver Surfer. Just awesome stuff. Another one of the 10 best titles Marvel is putting out. 11/12.
-Punisher War Journal #19- Punisher finds out that Jigsaw is impersonating him and getting him accused of killing innocents, as friends of Frank start getting cut down. Frank manages to save a woman he has been seeing and goes to one of his secret hideouts with his tech-buddy. I don’t have any complaints with this issue. 12/13.
-Thunderbolts: Reason In Madness #1- Venom gets offered a spot in a new group of villains, but Venom sells them out to Osborne, knowing who is a more powerful ally. Norman beats the crap out of these people and Venom asks for 24 hours to himself every month, which Norman grants. It sheds some light on the Venom/Osborne relationship, which is certainly two meetings of the craziest people in Thunderbolt mountain. This was a serviceable story. 13/14.
DC
-Action Comics Annual #11- This story only took a year or so to finish. So Superman had to team up with Lex Luthor and his most hated villains to take out the Kryptonians (Zod, Ursa, Non and all the prisoners in the Phantom Zone) and they do an admirable job, even killing some. Superman has to fight Zod and Ursa and Chris shows up. Chris is the son of Zod and Ursa if you don’t remember (I didn’t). Lex fixes a machine that pulls all the prisoners back to the Phantom Zone and everyone is pulled back, even Chris to Superman’s sorrow. So Superman is again alone, with no son, and he really is the last son of Krypton. This was a fitting ending, though I guess Chris Kent is gone from the title though he was just seen in the title recently. The artwork (why did it take so long when the Kubert’s were on time in Marvel?) was actually very good, especially the shot of Superman standing on the truck in the side of a building with the reflection of Metropolis shown in the building. Despite the lateness, which really takes the bite out of a title and an arc, this was actually very good and well-written, full of action, and a conclusion that definitely changes things for Supes. 1/1.
-Countdown to Mystery #7- Again, there are two stories here. Eclipso frees some of the heroes in his trance and they head to one final person (who I don’t remember who it is) but he is not under the influence of Eclipso. He captures them all, and a new Eclipso god is made, one more powerful than any others. Creeper frees them all and then Spectre confronts Eclipso on the moon for one last battle. The dead ghost who didn’t leave Spectre adds fuel to the fire by bringing all the spirits of all the people Spectre has killed. In the Dr. Fate story, the guy who had the helmet gave it up to the woman who ran the occult store, she’s beseiged by evil forces, the fallen doctor is captured in his sleep Negal wants to kill them both to destroy all of Doctor Fate forever! The first story was really good, but the second was a bit weaker. Still enough for a point. I wonder how the Fate story will end after the untimely passing of Steve Gerber. 2/2.
-DC Universe Special: Justice League of America #1- This is a reprint of some JLA stories. For time issues, I was only able to read the Libra story (which was pretty good). I don’t have any points one way or the other for a reprint collection. $5 for 5 comics is a good deal, though. Still, no original covers shown!
-DC Special: Raven #3- I hated the second issue but this one was a lot better crafted. Raven suffers the loss of her new friend at the bowling alley and mourns with the rest of the class, even meeting a new boy. She has trouble controlling her empath abilities and even has a dream where she sees the girl in a coma giving another girl drugs. She knows she has to stop a murder in a few days but doesn’t know of whom. She seeks out the comatose girl but doesn’t find anything as the girl’s father looks on with the emotion mask of Psycho Pirate. This was a lot better, made sense, and gets us ready for the last half of the arc. 3/3.
-Infinity Inc. #9- Gerome plays games with himself to get the other two thinking they are dupes. They have a fight with who I guess is the bogeyman. Mercy gets some key information and tells the group about it. Cops descend on the boy who they think is the Bogeyman as Infinity Inc. shows up. As I write this it is less than 24 hours since I read the title and I don’t remember anything about it without having to look through it again. That’s not good. 3/4.
-Metal Men. #8- This is the same as above. I don’t remember what happened hours after reading it. Some crazy guy is trying to make the Metal Men is with a respondometer rather than a responsometer and will take over the world. Future versions (or present versions?) of the Metal Men show up and stop the threat but not before Dr. Morrow turns on them. Another Magnus shows up and saves the day and all is over. A new evil menace named Viridium shows up. This was very ambitious, a story taking place over three different times and although it was ambitious, as a monthly comic with delays it didn’t work. It may read better as a graphic novel but I am not holding my breath. 3/5.
-Nightwing #144- Nightwing glides through the city, stops a group of terrorists on a train, then returns to his new abode. He is met there by Talia Al Ghul who basically tells Nightwing to stay out of her business (which he won’t) or his loved ones (like his new girlfriend) will be in trouble. This was a serviceable issue where we see Nightwing familiar in his new place and setting up a confrontation between Talia that will play out in future issues. 4/6.
-Rann-Thanagar Holy War #1- This is the first issue of the Holy War and it really was just a set-up issue. We see all the main players involved (who are seen on the cover) as Rannians are still high on Lady Styx despite Strange’s best efforts to stop them. He wants to show them through telepathy (requiring the aid of Comet) how wrong they are. The Thanagarians are on a new religion kick, too, this time following the religion we saw in the Mystery in Space series. This was a good opening, featuring Comet getting caught up in an explosion by a suicide bomber that will lead to an interesting space battle that I am sure will be a social commentary on religion today, too. 5/7.
-Supergirl #29- Supergirl looks to Dr. Luzano for help in saving the life of Tommy, a cancer patient, and it goes badly for her. Luzano doesn’t want to help her and instead makes himself a huge monster. Supergirl stops him then flies off where Superman meets her and tells her she can’t save Thomas because he is dead now. This was an interesting issue for sure. I like seeing Supergirl actually try for something but we got that emotional punch at the end of the issue. 6/8.
Free Comic Book Day 05/02/08
-All-Star Superman #1 (DC)- This is a direct reprint of All-Star Superman and it’s every bit as good now as it was when I first read it. It is just a fresh look at Superman, with Lex Luthor unleashing an absolutely inane plan that sends Superman to the sun, overloads his cells, and begins the slow process of killing him. It was an excellent debut issue for the best Superman title on the stands. 1/1.
-Project Superpowers Special (Dynamite)- This is an actual Devil Man story (originally Daredevil in 40’s comics) showing a bit of his history and battling a villain that may be behind the evil in the world right now, a villain he thought he killed decades ago. The story is only a few pages and there are a lot of Dynamite ads after it but this is key part of the Project Superpowers maxi-series. It was free, and useful! 2/2.
-Transformers Animated (IDW)- This is from an episode of the new animated series, where the Transformers look uber modern and cartoony. The art seems to be taken directly from cels used in the cartoon and it leads to a bit of blurriness in some panels. The story was uninteresting, the images blurry, and really you are left with just a subpar issue that I really would rather throw away then keep. It is hard to be disappointed by a free book, but here is one such example. 2/3.
-X-Men (Marvel)- This focuses on a character named Pixie, a character that must’ve appeared in the X-titles during my 8 year comic hiatus. I don’t really care for her or her powers (she has wings and pixie dust and can evidently teleport). She is in Scotland by herself and ends up battling the N’Gari. I was reminded by the Uncanny X-Men issue #143 where Kitty Pryde alone takes on these aliens in the last Byrne/Claremont story. This is a direct homage to that and it isn’t badly done. I didn’t care for Pixie but Carey and Land do a decent job highlighting a character that will probably have some sort of role in X-Men (maybe replacing Pryde, hmmm). The homage was nice and old time X-fans like myself will enjoy it as the homage while newer fans will enjoy seeing the X-Men just kick alien ass and have a new member join up with them. 3/4.
The Awards
-Book of the Week- I would have to hand this award to Avengers/Invaders #1. It wasn’t as good as I expected it to be, but it was still the best one I have read this week.
-Disappointment of the Week- I would have to go with Logan #3. It was in essence a worthless mini-series. It got one point for the first issue and the last two were already running on fumes. This would have worked as a 32 page one-shot but as a three-issue mini-series where another woman friend of Logan dies, and he fights another weird villain. Just didn’t do it for me.
-Cover of the Week- Avengers/Invaders #1 wins the best cover, as Alex Ross just created a masterpiece here, with the Invaders coming from all around the Mighty Avengers. Alex now has won his 4th of these awards.
-The Bottom Line- I am finishing this is in a hurry, so let’s just say this, Marvel kicked ass this week, DC had a couple of downers, and Free Comic Book Day was a success. I’m looking forward to next week when I am finally free of classes and planning lessons.
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